Each year, University of Wisconsin students are asked to shoulder an ever-rising tuition burden. After yet another hike, that burden is now $364 heavier than it was a year ago.
To attend this university, a Wisconsin resident must now come up with $5,618 a year, while those not fortunate enough to hail from the Dairy State must shell out $19,618. With segregated fees added to the equation, the figure swells to $6,280 for in-state students. The loan offices have never been happier.
As the Board of Regents continues to announce tuition hike after tuition hike, the Associated Students of Madison have fought back as only ASM can. There has been no shortage of finger-pointing and empty promises, but a simple solution seems to have somehow eluded UW’s student assembly.
When Eric Varney took over as ASM chair in May, he told The Badger Herald he would do his part to lighten the tuition burden by “keeping segregated fees down because that’s what ASM can control.”
All we ask is he live up to that promise.
With tuition higher than ever and seemingly still on the rise, students cannot afford to see their bank accounts further drained by soaring segregated fees. The same students who are forced to take out substantial loans just to cover tuition should not be expected to fund groups that cannot support themselves. It is not ASM’s responsibility to create a welfare state at the students’ expense.
In the past, ASM has been more than willing to take from the students and give to the student organizations. Segregated fees have risen consistently, with each student’s yearly fee up $164 since 2000.
Regrettably, segregated fees rose from $608 in 2004-05 to $662 for the 2005-06 budget. While the regents’ 6.9 percent tuition hike has been widely criticized, ASM’s 8.9 percent segregated fee hike has gone largely unnoticed.
ASM can not lower tuition, but it can control segregated fees. We hope it will do so.